The city of Lima, located on the shore of the Rimac River and the Pacific Ocean, was founded by the Conquistador Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535. Lima became known as the City of Kings, not only because the name is associated with the position it once held as the capital of the Spanish viceroyalty but because Pizarro had planned to discover the city on January 6th, the day of Epiphany. From the beginning, Lima was an oasis of culture and elegance in the American Indies.

"Just a few decades after it was founded, Lima already rivalled Mexico as the most important metropolis in the Spanish-American Empire."

Baroque and Renaissance churches, mansions, palaces, universities and archdioceses filled Lima in its early days. The cultural scene hummed positively as early as the beginning of the seventeenth century, when Lima had a population of just 25,000.